The present invention relates to a treatment bench of the kind which is intended particularly, but not exclusively, for the treatment of persons suffering from back ailments by so-called autotraction.
Treatment benches of this kind include a stand or frame structure which has mounted thereon a bench-section which can be swung relative to the stand about a pivot shaft which extends substantially horizontally to the stand. This pivotal bench-section carries a foot-rest at its one end and a patient-reclining surface at its other end. The pivotal bench-section can be swung about the horizontal shaft from an initial position in which the foot-rest faces essentially downwards and the patient-reclining surface faces upwards, to a position in which the head of a patient positioned on the bench is lower than the patient's feet and in which the foot-rest is located above the horizontal shaft and the patient-reclining surface is located beneath said shaft. The treatment bench may be adjustable solely to a position in which the patient hangs substantially vertically while supported by his feet.
In those instances when such a treatment bench is used solely to subject a patient lying on the patient-reclining surface to traction forces under the action of his own weight and the patient is thus not suspended by his feet, considerable friction will be generated between the patient's back and the patient-reclining surface, which counteracts stretching of the patient.
Treatment benches of this kind are known on which the patient-reclining surface has the form of a board which is mounted on wheels such as to enable the board to be displaced along a frame which forms part of the aforesaid pivotal bench-section and therewith, through the mobility of the board, enable the patient to be stretched, by transferrence of the frictional forces from the region between the patient's back and the board to a location between the board and the frame.